Akishi no Mikage
by Mint Crystals aka Regenbogen
Summary: Warning: Shounen-ai(Don't like, don't read) CHAP.4 is FINALLY up. A parallel universe to that of Ayashi no Ceres. Focused around the 'romance' between Aki and Touya :) We hope you enjoy Mikage's Whack-A-Mole.
1. The Day the Boy and Man of Destiny Meet

Notes: This story is a parallel universe, where Aki/Mikage and Aya/Ceres switch places (so basically, Mikage's good and Ceres is evil) Also, Yuuhi and Chidori and their siblings switch places, so it would sort of be like: 

Cast:  
**Aki/Mikage** - protagonist(s)  
**Aya/Ceres** - antagonist(s)  
**Touya** - Aki's 'savior'  
**Shouta** - Wise little kid, half tribesman  
**Chidori** - Shouta's sister, very bad cook, fights with a fork  
**Yuuhi** - Descendent of tribesman, obsesses over Chidori  
**Suzumi** - Yuuhi's handicapped sister, stays in a wheelchair 

Everyone else plays their respective roles. 

* * *

_**Akishi no Mikage**_

_Episode 1_

A hazy vision of a small house comes into view and two voices are heard, one of a young boy and one of an old man. 

Grandpa Mikage: "And then, the Tennyo saw the reward ads for finding the mana, nailed to a pine tree near her and decided to find the tribesman to receive her reward." 

Aki (child): "But what would happen if the Tribesman-san didn't have his mana? Then can he still go to the tribe meeting? Can he still be prosperous? What happened to the Tribesman-san?" 

Grandpa Mikage: "He couldn't go to the tribe meeting and ended up marrying the young woman who had hid his mana after receiving her prize." 

Aki: "Married? Then that means he fell in love with her!" 

Grandpa Mikage: "Well, I'm not too sure about that..." 

Aki: "Hey, hey, when the Tribesman married her, did he get his mana back? Did he then go to the tribe meeting? Teeeelllll meeee… do tribesman still exist? 

Grandpa Mikage: "I just answered that you stupid kid! You should listen to your elders. Ok now listen up… After marrying the tribesman, the Tennyo hid it again so that the tribesman will have to depend on her. I don't know why, so don't ask. And as for whether they exist or not… THAT'S A STUPID QUESTION!" 

~*~ 

The clear blue skies above and the hardly visible moon faded into a glowing purple crystal ball and a new voice is heard-the cackling high voice of a man: 

"When the day the star and moon of sixteen meet… the fated day will come. I see money and lack of money. The decay of the equilibrium of wealth and power will crumble. Very soon you will be taken over by some dude… when light and darkness meet, your true wealth will awaken…" 

The man appears in view, under a cloak. His long, neon pink fingernails are outstretched over the crystal ball. 

A boy is sitting across the purple triangular table from him. The unknown boy sweat drops at the long nails and the oily, make up covered face of the old man and says to himself in a low voice, "I hope I'm not going to be any more poor than I already am. It took me a while to dig up these quarters to buy Aya this pair of earrings from the Dollar Store." 

~*~ 

Among the noisy traffic of the city streets, two voices are heard. 

"Oi! Aki, what did that drag-queen fortune teller say? Anything about you getting a girlfriend?" 

"Well no… but they did say something about 'some dude'… What a waste of two cents to get my fortune told. He didn't even read my palm. All he did was stamp it with Crayola® markers and color it red. I wonder why…" 

"Well speaking of money… You did manage to get me something for our 16th birthday tomorrow, didn't you? Because I got you something!" 

"I did… And it cost me a lot! So your present to me better be good!" 

"Well… you'll just have to see for your-" The girl's voice stopped short as she bumps hard into a scraggily-looking homeless man. Before she had time to react, the man yanked the purse from her grasp, pushed her into the railing, and started running to the other end of the bridge. 

Aki stood and blinked as his sister screamed at the top of her lungs, "What are you doing just standing there, Aki! Get him! Your present is in that purse!!!" She gave him a shove towards the direction of the man and Aki soon found his feet carrying his body and chasing after the thief. His quick strides allowed him to catch up to the old man, who stood hunched over, huffing and puffing. 

"Give me back the purse!" Aki screamed as he played tug-o-war with the hobo. The hobo resists for a while, but seeing that he was losing, suddenly lets go of the purse, sending Aki reeling backwards into the railing as the purse flies from his hands. Aki turns his body with quick reflexes and reaches out for the bag. His hand comes in contact with the strap and he yells victoriously, "I got it!" 

But little does he know… 

"Aki!!! You can't fly, stupid!" 

The boy's thoughts were interrupted as he plunged head-first off the bridge and into the swarm of cars, with the purse still in his grasp. As he plummeted through the air, visions of a stone foot flashed before his eyes. The last thing he remembered seeing was the handsome face of a red-haired man beneath him, arms outstretched. 

~*~ 

Aki regains consciousness and realizes he's being supported by the muscular arms of a stranger. He turns his head and blinks at the face of the man and discovers that it was the same face he saw right before he passed out. The man glances down at Aki from his sunglasses. A few strands of his red hair falls in his greenish gold eyes as they stare into Aki's violet ones with a serene escape. 

Suddenly, the peaceful look on the man's pale face shifted as his eyebrow twitched violently at the loud honks emerging from traffic. 

"Get outta the way you little punks!" A female driver yelled from her crappy, rusting blue car.**[1]**

The man, still with the boy in his arms, glares at the driver and marches away with a 'hmph!' The car speeds past the man, nearly running him over as the wheels screech and a hubcap flies off, nailing the red-haired man in the derrière.**[2]**

The stranger, in utter surprise, drops Aki in a heap on sidewalk. The painful expression on his face matches the same one on Aki's as both men cradle their own butts with both hands. 

"Oi! Aki! My purse, is it okay?! Please say that my purse is not hurt!" Aya ran down the stairs of the bridge towards where her brother had landed. She pushed past the stranger, kneeling beside Aki and grabbing the purse which lay a few inches away in a mud puddle. "Aki! How could you?!" she says as tries to strangle her brother. "This was my favorite pink purse!" 

"It wasn't my fault! He dropped me here!" Aki proclaimed as he looked up to where the man was last seen. "Huh? ...He's gone." 

~*~ 

A large house is seen through the dark of the night. The house is light by a few lights in the upper and lower rooms. A silhouette of a boy is seen through the window of the upper bedroom. 

Aki lay across his bed in his yellow 'jimmies'**[3]** , daydreaming about his savior. He thought to himself, _'Man, a lot seemed to happen today…What a way to spend the day before my birthday! First, I almost splatted from the bridge, then I nearly got run over by some crazy driver… and now my butt hurts. Well, at least some good came out of this… the dashing man who saved my life…he seemed kind of mysterious and strange. I wonder if we're ever going to meet again.'_

Flashbacks of the drag-queen fortune teller made their way into Aki's thoughts. 

Fortune Teller: "Some dude will save you from splattering and traffic and lots of other things, so don't you worry you'll never run out of opportunities to meet this dude." 

His thoughts altered to his flashback of the stone foot. _'Hmm… that symbol… a foot… I wonder what that's supposed to mean.'_ A familiar high-pitched voice snapped him back into reality as a loud banging on the door shook the walls of his room. 

"Aki! Dinner! Didn't you hear us calling?" 

Aki sighed and dragged himself off the bed and across the room to open the door. 

"Aki… why are you wearing your yellow pajamas already?" 

"…I like them. Just like you like your pink purse, is that wrong?" 

His sister shrugged and walked off towards the kitchen and Aki followed immediately afterwards. They trooped into the dining room and saw their father reading his favorite book, Little Women. He glanced up from his reading and his giddy expression immediately turned serious as his eyes came upon Aki and Aya. 

His commanding voice instructed the two. "Aki, Aya. When school's over tomorrow, come straight home." 

The two teenagers replied with a cheerful 'okay' but their father had already turned his attention back to his precious book, letting the giddy expression wash over his face again. 

~*~ 

A cab arrives at the gate of a large mansion and two pairs of feet step out of the car. 

"Hmph! I can't believe Mom and Dad ditched us," Aya said to her brother as she rang the outside doorbell. 

The gate opened and the pair stepped inside. Before long they were sitting beside each other at a long wooden table directly across from their ugly grandfather. All around them sat other members of their family, some which they had never met. 

Grandpa Mikage welcomed them with a toothless smile, "Aki, Aya. Happy 16th birthday. I have a little present for you two." He motioned with a wave of his hand to a shadow in the corner of the room and a man appeared into view beside Aki and Aya, wearing a green coat and a blue belly shirt. 

Aki half expected the man to start belly dancing before he recognized him as the same man who rescued Aki from the bridge the day before. 

"Oooh, Grandpa! You sure went out your way for us! Even hiring a professional hula dancer for our birthday? Wow… this is really cool!" Aya exclaimed excitedly as she stared at man's outfit. However, Aki's attention was focused on the box in the man's hand. 

Grandpa Mikage gave Aya a weird look from all the way across the long table as their other relatives sweat dropped. The man ignored Aya's comment and leaned over a side of the table, placing the box directly in front of the two. His arm brushes the side of Aki's cheek slightly as he steps away to sneak back and hide himself in his dark corner. 

Aki's eyes were wide with surprise-firstly, at the fact that the man had intentionally brushed against his face and secondly, that the man had skittered away into his dark corner all alone. 

Grandpa Mikage's voice rattled at the twins, "Open it. Go ahead Aki." 

Before Aki had time to obey his Grandfather's wishes, Aya snatched away the box in anticipation. "Mine!" she hissed and tore at the wrapping paper. Without hesitation she opened the lid and saw… 

"A foot?! What the hell did you give us, Grandpa? Why would we need a foot?!" Aya shoved the stone foot away from her. "You keep this, Aki. I'll take the hula dancer!" 

Aki didn't answer… his face seemed to age and faded red stripes appeared on his forehead and cheeks. In the distance, a horrified wail proclaimed, "Aahhh!!! Aki, you're ugly!" Aki held his head as it throbbed with intense pain. Images of the stone foot in different poses flashed before his eyes, the same way they had when he fell from the bridge. The hair on his head seemed to stand on end as he looked down at the box. 

The stone foot suddenly exploded into pieces, letting an odor of sweat and rotten eggs emerge from it's remnants. Aki looked around and noticed that everyone except him and Aya had put on gas masks-including the man in the dark corner. 

"Aya! Quick! Hold your breath!" Aki exclaimed as he pinched his nose. But it was too late. Aya had fainted from the terrible smell that drifted around the room. 

Grandpa Mikage had stood up from his seat and opened the windows at the back of the room. He returned to his seat, calmly as the smell drifted out through the open windows. Everyone pulled off their gas masks-including the man in the dark corner. 

"Aya! Aya!" screamed Aki. "Somebody help her! Does anyone know CPR?!" His relatives stared at him, not making any effort to get up and answer his cries for help. "Why won't you help her?!" he pleaded. 

Grandpa Mikage answered to him, "Aya will be okay. Get away from her. We have to make sure not to accidentally hit her if our aim is off." 

Aki couldn't believe his ears. He looked around the room, searching for a sympathetic face. He finally gave up and looked towards the dark corner, hoping that the strange man would save him again. But no one came to help him. 

The eerie voice of the fortune teller seeped into his thoughts:  
"I see money and lack of money. The decay of the equilibrium of wealth and power will crumble. Very soon you will be taken over by some dude… when light and darkness meet, your true wealth will awaken…" 

_To Be Continued…_

* * *

FOOTNOTES:  
**[1]** If you've read our fanfic—Fushigi Yuugi: A Mysterious PLAY WITH GUYS! You should know who the driver is =)  
**[2]** Derrière—"behind" in French. Or literally "buttocks."  
**[3]** Aki's yellow "jimmies" as in Episode 4. 


	2. Tribesman's First Kiss

Notes: Firstly, thank you all for reviewing and submitting your suggestions. Let us explain that there will be 24 "episodes", so to speak, so we don't really have time to get into descriptions. We are taking that you know the story of Ayashi no Ceres so we only bothered mentioning the important parts of this parallel universe. And, given that this IS a parallel universe, many of Aki's experiences will be similar to that of Aya's. In fact, this story IS a parody of Ayashi no Ceres: see title. 

As you can see, our characters are very out-of-character. Yes, in short, they are assholes. After all, this is a humorous alternate universe and anything can happen! Even cross-dressing grandpas! XD No just kidding, we didn't do anything along those lines. Another reason for Aya's behavior is because we're just shaping her into the 'evil Ceres' that is soon to come. As you should recall at the end of the series, Aki/Mikage becomes a real prick... and we just thought it'd be a lot more believeable if Aya became a real bitch. Well, without further ado... on with the story! 

* * *

**_Akishi no Mikage_**

_Episode 2_

The lights flickered and suddenly went out. The dark corner didn't seem to be so dark anymore, although Aki still couldn't see the man that had retreated to it. A loud crash of thunder echoed the room as the sky opened up and poured rain forcefully over the house and the windows. 

Aki stared fearfully at the shadow of his grandfather approaching him as a bolt of lightning flashed outside the window. 

The clicking of high heels suddenly stopped as Grandpa Mikage froze in his steps. A small droplet of water landed on the old man's bald head and trickled down his wrinkled scalp. "Damn! I knew I should have fixed this leaky ceiling sooner!" The clicks then resumed until the old man was right in front of Aki and Aya. 

The sound of water hitting the windows gave way to the creaky voice of their grandfather as he spoke, "Aki, you are nothing but danger to the financial success of the Mikage family. You must die." 

Aki was stunned at how greedy his grandfather had become. _'And to think... he used to buy me and Aya lots of Cabbage Patch® dolls to play with...'_ Aki thought as he looked at him with a confused expression. 

Aki's eyes darted around the room, desperately looking for any hint of regret for not helping him. First he glanced at his father who had crawled under the table with a pocket flashlight, holding on to an object he seemed to be very interested in. Seeing that he was busy, he glanced over to his mother who was chatting away with his aunt about the latest styles and fashions. Whenever his mom started talking, she never stopped, so it was pointless to try to get her attention. 

Aki looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms. His sister was clutching her purse possessively with a greedy expression on her face. 

"Get your hands off of Aya!" Grandpa Mikage ordered. 

Aki rolled his eyes. If he really wanted to steal from her, he would have done so a long time ago. 

Grandpa Mikage swung his cane through the air and yelled, "Come, fulfill your duty." Aki had to dodge sideways several times to avoid being hit. As soon as his grandfather had ceased swinging his cane, Aki turned his head to see his own father crawl out from under the table and hand over a tazer to Grandpa Mikage. 

"Dad..." Aki called after his retreating father. 

The man sat down in a chair with his back to Aki and held the same object he was seen with before in front of his face. Without looking up he replied, "Sorry, I can't do anything about this. First of all, I won't be able to ask my father for money anymore. And second, I have to finish reading Little Women." He flicked his flashlight back on and hunched over his book eagerly. 

Grandpa Mikage turned towards a group of men in dark suits and ordered them to drag Aya away. The men grabbed a hold of her limbs and carried her off. Aki could do nothing but sit there, frozen in shock as his grandfather advanced towards him with the flickering tazer held out in front. 

An evil toothless smile appeared on Grandpa Mikage's ugly, mole-covered face as he advanced forward. "Don't move, Aki. This won't hurt." 

Aki sensed there was something wrong as soon as he saw the repulsive smile flash across his grandfather's face. Ignoring what he was told, he stood up with shaky legs and backed up slowly as his 4'8" grandfather threatened him against the wall. The little old man cursed as he stabbed the air around Aki's abdomen--which was barely in reach. 

Aki winced as he felt the same rush he'd had when the stone foot was presented to him. His hair grew out in wild strands and once again his face became aged and striped with faded red. His eyes glowed with rage as a club appeared in his hands. Aki grasped on to the club and something seemed to take over him. He swung forcefully at the wall behind him, shaking the whole room and sending little pieces of roof crashing down. 

"Everybody! Under the table!" Grandpa Mikage shouted, slowly limping away with the assistance of his cane. 

From the outside, a thunderous crash was heard as the windows of the house shattered. The unforgiving rain pelted down and a lightning bolt flashed, illuminating the house as its roof crumbled away. 

~*~ 

A little boy's voice called out, "Chidori! Chidori! Where are you?" 

The screen door opened and a slightly deformed face peered into the kitchen,"What are you yelling for, little kid? You shouldn't throw tantrums because you're hungry." 

The little boy interrupted, "Where's Chidori?" 

The person with the slightly deformed face answered back to the little boy, "She's poisoning--I mean... making your meal taste better." 

The boy ran past the deformed face of a W-san and burst into the kitchen in hopes to prevent his sister from giving them food poisoning. Seeing that his sister had headphones in her ears, he desperately tugged at his sister's brown hair to get her attention. 

"Huh?" The girl turned around to see her wise, but spoiled little brother making frantic motions in the air. "Ohhh! Are you practicing to be a mime, Shouta? Hmm ok ok, I'll play charades with you after I'm finished making supper." She turned back to the pan on the stove, which held a thick, strange-smelling, greenish brown mixture. 

The little boy jumped up and snatched the earphones from Chidori's ears and yelled loudly in a pre-pubescent male voice, "Chidooooori! I need you to do something for me. Just now I sensed the presence of money close by... oh, and of another tribesman--like me!" 

Chidori turned around and leaned down to come face to face with her brother. "And... I'm supposed to...?" 

~*~ 

A group of body guards in stiff black suits crowded around an old man who was crawling out from beneath a table, amidst the wreckage of what used to be a very cheap, but large house. 

The old man got up slowly, and stretched to his full height. The men that surrounded him looked down at their president. The old man then coughed and wheezed as he tried to catch his breath and speak. He finally muttered to himself, "So, this is Aki's true power? Swinging a club? Who would have thought. He was terrible at baseball as a child. Even I could run to first base faster than he... with the assistance of my wheelchair. I didn't think it would come to this." He paused and lowered his voice, speaking in a threatening tone, "I'll never forgive him for surpassing me at my favorite sport..." 

~*~ 

Outside of the remaining fragments of the Mikage mansion, Aki sat cross-legged by a shaggy shrub as the rain poured over his body and the lightning crashed above him. 

_'That was odd...'_ he thought to himself. He looked down at his outstretched palms and shook his head, half expecting something to be there. But the club he once held had vanished into thin air when he had finished knocking down the door. 

Aki couldn't remember much more of the recent events that took place except that he had somehow made it into the Mikage garden, where only a few plants and bushes grew among the numerous ant hills and weeds._ 'I hope no one finds me here... or else I'm going to have to face my psychotic midget-of-a-grandpa...'_

Suddenly a whistling disrupted Aki's thoughts and he scurried into the bush to hide himself. Unfortunately, the man that approached the bush had already spotted the rustling of the leaves and stopped whistling his tune to let a small smirk appear on his face. 

"Hey, little squirrel in the bush... are you Aki? Why did you just crawl into a bush of poison ivy?" 

Aki immediately jumped out of the seemingly innocent plant and stood up to face the stranger who had called out to him. He inspected the pale face, shielded only by a pair of black sunglasses, and the slick, wet hair that had been mangled by the drizzle of the rain. It was obvious from his appearance that this man was the one hiding in the dark corner when the stone foot had been given to him as a birthday present. The man just also happened to be the same one that had saved him from falling off the bridge onto the hood of a passing car. 

He stood for a moment and blinked in surprise before shaking his head and realizing he had embarassed himself by jumping into poison ivy. A faint flush rose on his cheeks as he muttered back, humiliated, "Well, you're the one wearing sunglasses and a belly shirt in the rain--" 

Before Aki could finish insulting the man, gunshots and voices were heard nearby. Aki froze, dumb-struck not knowing what to do or where to go. He began contemplating whether or not to jump back into the poison ivy when a strong grasp gripped his waist and sent him flying into another bush nearby. He nearly yelped in pain as the thorns tore at his skin but found himself mute as a pair of lips enveloped his own. 

"I'll go look over here by the dog house and you go search over by that statue of the giant, stone foot." 

Aki raised an eyebrow at the fact that Grandpa Mikage owned dogs before realizing that he was being kissed by the man who had tried to look cool wearing sunglasses. However, as the man pulled back, Aki realized the sunglasses he was once wearing were no longer covering his greenish-gold eyes. When he spoke a painful expression came across his face, "Sorry about that." 

Aki stared in puzzlement at the look that the man was giving him. "Are you okay, Mister?" 

"Mister? I'm not called that. I'm Touya..." He grimaced and plucked a thorn from beneath him. 

Aki stared on in disbelief as thoughts raced through his head._ 'What should I do? That was my first kiss! ...and I haven't even practiced yet. I hope I didn't suck too much.'_ He realized that Touya had just kissed him to prevent him from yelling out and giving away their whereabouts, but even so, he couldn't help feeling a bit flustered. A sharp pain caused him to snap his hand out in front of him and bring him back to reality. He looked down at his middle finger where a spot of blood trickled forth. 

The man named Touya plucked the last thorn off himself and turned his attention to the outstretched middle finger of the boy. At first, he was about to give him the finger back, but then he realized that Aki was bleeding. He quickly took the boy's hand in his own, bringing it up to his face and kissing at the spot where Aki had been scratched. Aki bit his bottom lip and blushed again at the sudden suggestive actions. He almost pulled back but stopped when he felt the pressure of a hand against the back of his head and fingers softly creeping through his hair. A shiver went down his spine and he darted a curious glance as Touya pulled both his hands away quickly and grinned mischievously at the unsuspecting boy. Aki withdrew himself out of the bushes in response and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by another voice. 

"Hey, chick! What are you doing in those rose bushes? Ah, nevermind that... c'mon W-san's waiting for us!" Aki turned his head to spot a short girl in pigtails waving frantically at him. He wondered who the girl was talking to and looked inquisitively towards Touya who was still hiding in the bush. 

Touya reached out a finger from the bushes and jabbed him in the ribs, "That's your cue. She was talking to you." The man snickered and gave Aki a rough shove towards the girl. 

Aki ran towards the girl but glanced back to give Touya one last confused look. He turned just in time to see Touya emerge from the bushes accompanied by the snap of many twigs. The man stepped out and brushed away at his clothes before lifting his head to reveal a large rose that had broken off and pinned itself to his red hair. 

Aki burst into peals of laughter as he waved a final good-bye to his companion, following the brown-haired girl to a vehicle. 

Touya chuckled to himself as he watched the boy run away with the rose he had teasingly planted in his blond hair. _'Wow, he must have a good sense of humour,'_ he thought as Aki started laughing. _'I'd be furious if I found out I had a rose in my hair.'_

The tall man then walked away as soon as he saw the blond head, complete with rose, disappear into the backseat of the station wagon that had come to pick him up. 

_To Be Continued..._


	3. He Who Took a Mud Bath

  
  


* * *

**_Akishi no Mikage_**

Episode 3

"So... how are you feeling?" Chidori inquired as she and Aki headed to the nursery where Shouta was currently taking a nap. 

Aki scratched his arm and replied meekly, "I'm still kinda itchy from the poison ivy... AND still really mad at my dad for picking Little Women over me..." 

They walked side-by-side in silence as Chidori took a moment to let the words sink in. She suddenly stopped mid-stride and shook her head before replying, "Your dad's really weird..." The girl then continued on her way with a longing glance at Aki's hair where a certain plant used to be. She heaved a small sigh, "I wish you hadn't taken that rose out of your hair... you looked... better." 

Aki sweatdroped and replied in a timid uncertain voice, "Okay..." 

The girl stopped in the doorway of her brother's room. "...You do know you look a lot better as a girl, right?" She gave him a side-glance and continued in, leaving him flabbergasted. 

Aki stood rigidly outside the nursery, "...Okay, I'm leaving now..." 

"NO! DON'T! Your grandpa will--" 

A loud wail interrupted Chidori and she hurried over to the crib in the far corner of the room, where a little boy with pink bows in his hair lay surrounded by teddy bears and mini tribesman dolls. She leaned over the crib and hushed the boy before turning back to Aki, "I'm sorry. He's usually more mature. It's just that he's in a bad mood today since his bath was ice-cold last night after you used up all the hot water." She then grabbed a tribesman doll and handed it over to Shouta who immediately latched himself on to the action figure. 

Aki stood dumbfounded, "Uh... should I apologize to him right now?" 

Before Chidori could reply, a head shot up from the crib across the room and a tribesman action figure, with a leg torn off the body, flew past his head, barely missing his face. A voice, that reminded Aki of himself as a child, beckoned him to step closer. He did so and approached with great precaution, back against the wall and ducking into the shadows occasionally, darting his eyes from side to side. As soon as Aki reached the corner of the crib he carefully stretched his neck to peer over the edge. 

"You're Aki, right?" 

"Yeah... and you are...?" 

"Shouta. Now ask me a question, _any_ question." 

Aki gave the child a funny look. "Well, okay," He paused. "Can I go home?" 

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The small body suddenly jerked up, grabbing a hold of the rails, sending the crib rocking back and forth and the stuffed animal next to him mooing. "No. I won't let you... I sense the aura of money around you." Shouta thought for a moment as he glared into the blonde boy's eyes. Aki could have cared less about Shouta's comment. So the immature, yet intelligent, child tried another approach. "Your grandpa's out to get you cause you're taller and better at baseball than he is... so it's best that you stay here for awhile." 

"What?! How can that be..." A confused expression claimed Aki's pretty face. "I was never better at baseball than Grandpa! He was my idol! This is horrible... wh-what am I going to do?!" He buried his face in his hands as a satisfied smile crept over Shouta's little face. 

The youngster continued, "So does that mean you'll stay? ...Because he's NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE YOU!!!" He ended with a prepubescent giggle. 

Chidori looked at her brother, then at Aki, and back at her brother again. "Looks like you guys are getting along pretty well! I'll cook up something for you guys, ne?" She waved and left, seemingly unnoticed, as the two boys stared at eachother. 

Aki frowned and gave Shouta his most threatening look, something along the lines of an angry gopher. Shouta stared back with the intensity of an overweight chipmunk. His look was absolutely intimidating. Aki blinked in surprise as Shouta jumped out of the crib, clutching on to his shoulders, his feet dangling a meter**[1]** off the ground. 

"YOU BLINKED! I WIN!" 

~*~ 

"I'm assuming that Chidori has already informed you of the tribesmen," Shouta said formally as Chidori seated him in the high-chair. 

"Yes, as a matter of fact, she has," said Aki as he poked at the gray blob in his dinner plate. "It's very interesting. Tell me more about your people." 

"They're _YOUR_ people too, geez Aki," Chidori chided as she tied a bib around Shouta's neck, half-strangling him. "I've been trying to manipulate you into thinking that since last night!" She sat down at her chair, beside Shouta and took a giant serving of the dish in front of her. 

Shouta pretended to have not heard Chidori's rants and cleared his throat, "Yes... _ANYWAY_. The story goes something like this: 

Loonnngg ago... in a place faaaarrrr away... was a mud bath--well, a tribesman taking one. While he had his backside facing away, a Tennyo came along and stole his MANA! When the tribesman got out of his bath, the first thing he wanted to put on was the MANA. But because the Tennyo had stolen it, he could not find it and he desperately searched for hours--naked! If he was not wearing his MANA he would not be able to attend the tribe meeting. In the end he never found it and his parents had arranged for him to marry the daughter of his father's gay lover." 

Aki nodded sympathetically, "I can understand how he feels... being cast out by his family and all, but what in hell does this have to do with me?" 

"Well... to put it bluntly, you're the descendent of that tribesman." Shouta waited exactly two minutes for the impact of the words to sink in as Chidori munched on her gruel. The boy then continued as soon as he saw the surprised look in Aki's face exactly two minutes later. "Isn't it weird thinking about your ancestors taking mud baths?" 

"So... does this make me a tribesman?" Aki questioned innocently. 

Shouta nodded gravely in reply, "Yes... yes it does." 

Chidori suddenly looked up from her meal with slop all over her face, "C'mon everybody, eat up! There's plenty for everyone!" She wiped off her face on her sleeve and proceeded to pick up Shouta's bowl and fly the spoon into his mouth. 

Between bites, Shouta managed to say, "FACT! Did you know that I am a tribesman as well?" Chidori continued to spoon-feed her hungry brother as she saw Aki pushing the food around on his plate out of the corner of her eye. 

"Are you not hungry, Aki?" She glanced up when Aki did not reply. "That's okay. I understand it's a lot of info to take in all at once. I'd be pretty traumatized if my great great great great great great great great grandfather took a mud bath," she assured. 

Suddenly the plastic purple spoon with Barney painted on the handle dropped out of her hands as she gasped in horror. "WAIT! Shouta's my brother... and he's a tribesman... so... THAT MEANS MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER TOOK MUD BATHS TOO! DOUBLE EEW!" 

The room became silent. A horsefly buzzed past Aki and landed on Shouta's mouth. 

~*~ 

Some guy with glasses and brownish-gray hair beckoned Aya over from his purple hammock with a fan. The girl looked up from a GET WELL card she was reading and obediently made her way over to her cousin, Kagami. 

"Hello. Good to see you feeling better," he said in a fake English accent. 

Aya glared at her relative. "Don't tell me you called me over just to see if I could walk by myself," she huffed. "Anyway, where's Aki? Haven't seen him since that belly dancer came by... ohhh yeahhh he was HOT!" 

Kagami nodded in agreement. "I'm pleased to inform you that the belly dancer--um...Touya--is going to be your maid from now on. Feel free to boss him around." 

Aya gave her cousin an irritated look. "I'm guessing he's a hand-me-down. He was your servant before, wasn't he?!" she demanded. "Well, whatever, I won't boss him around like you do to every one, including ME! Now where's Touya, I want a guy to help me carry my shopping bags when we go shopping today." 

Kagami shrugged and flapped his fan in one hand, and his other hand in a gay-manner silently as Aya walked off. 

~*~ 

"That's right, and this goes on top of your head." 

"Like this?" 

"Yep, like that." Shouta grinned at his sister proudly. "I'm so unique. FACT! Did you know that I'm the one that came up with these tribesman protecting mullet wigs?" 

Chidori shook her head as the white locks of mullety hair went flying in every direction. "Okay, I'm done trying on this one. So, show me how to take it off," she requested nicely, waiting patiently for Shouta's assistance. 

Instead of using his small, doll-like hands to remove the wig, Shouta shrugged innocently, replying, "Actually, the only person who can remove it is the tribesman that you're protecting. Until then... I guess you should get used to your new hair cut." 

Chidori's mouth dropped open, forming a W-shape. "What?! ...Have you been watching Fushigi Yuugi again? Do I _really_ look like Nakago to you?!" She demanded with a shaking fist. 

"Well, you do now." 

Shouta waddled away to the opposite end of the room as W-san entered, sticking a fork in Chidori's trembling fist. "To fight with," it simply said and left. 

~*~ 

Aki had been sitting for hours on the toilet in deep thought. He had tried to look through some of Shouta's picture books that lay about the small outhouse but they just didn't help. No matter what he did he couldn't get his mind off mud baths and naked tribesmen. Soon the blonde boy's memories of his family circled back to his otherwise blank mind. 

"This isn't working at all," he groaned loudly. Aki stood up from his seat, taking one last look around the outhouse before leaving through the door, due to his fear of falling out the window. 

Aki made his way back to his own house, feeling as if Shouta was stalking him the whole way back. He ran up the front steps and bolted inside as soon as he was able to open the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, Aki called out in a despairing voice, "Hello? Anybody home?" When no one answered, the blonde made his way down a hall. _Feels like I've been away from home for so long... I missed my CDs._ As he headed over to his own room, he passed by his sister's and peered in. _Aya used to always sit there reading her magazines out loud... but she's not here. So I guess there's no more beauty tips to listen to..._ He shrugged and headed into his own room next door. The first thing Aki did was dash to his stash of Backstreet Boys CDs. He rummaged through all of them, counting them twice and finally breathing a sigh of relief. "Oh I'm glad that no one stole them," he said as he hugged them tightly to his chest. 

Soon, Aki was inside his kitchen, making himself a turkey sandwich and jamming to Backstreet Boys on the stereo system in the living room. "Damn! Why's it so hard to put a slice of turkey between these two pieces of bread? How does mom do it so well?" He slapped on some mayonnaise with an egg beater and squirted some mustard on the turkey breast that he clutched in his hand, but the slippery white meat shot out from his grasp and fell on to the ground. 

Aki muttered under his breath and turned his attention to the two pieces of bread that still lay intact on the counter. He grabbed them and squished them together. Ignoring the turkey on the ground he marched into the living room, flopping down on the couch as Nick Carter hit a high note. 

For a second, Aki drowned out the music as his father's brown fluffy slippers caught his attention. _Usually around this time of day, Dad would be throwing a fit because he misplaced his favorite book thinking either me or Aya took it. I wonder if he's still reading Little Women_. 

~*~ 

"This is the perfect time to capture the tribesman," said a sinister looking man behind dark shades as he sat in the passenger seat of the frog-green Volkswagon beetle. They had been parked at the curb of Aki's residence for four hours, waiting for him to arrive. 

The driver, who had a "HELLO My Name Is" sticker on the front of his jacket with the name Wei underneath, nodded in agreement. 

"We will call our assistant to capture him and force him to turn into a tribesman," said the first man was he fanned himself with a fan, nearly knocking off his shades. 

The man known as "Wei" turned around with an emotionless face and said to the red-haired male sitting in the backseat, "When Kagami takes out his fan, he means business. If I were you, I would get out of the car and force that boy to become the tribesman to avoid getting whacked by that fan." He proceeded to stare at Touya until the red-head grudgingly left the comfort of the green beetle. 

~*~ 

"Tell me whyyy, ain't nothin' but a hearrrtache!" Aki sang with his eyes closed as he danced around his living room. "Tell me whyyy, ain't nothin' but a miiistake," he continued as he waved his index finger in front of him. Aki twirled around and tripped over an object that huddled near the stereo system. 

The music abruptly stopped just as the Backstreet Boys were holding a long note. Aki rolled over to check the object that had caused him his fall. The face of a squatting man came into view and rage coursed through Aki's veins when he recognized it as belonging to the same man that had planted the rose in his hair. Before he knew what was going, the fury that had taken over him a day ago began to seize control of him again. 

Touya stared in wonder, with cord in hand, as a strange man with stripes on his face loomed over his crouching figure. A thunderous voice followed, echoing through the small room. 

"I am the one that was banished from the tribe..." the voice warned. "My name's Mikage... nice to meet you," he finished with a cheery attitude. 

_To Be Continued…_

* * *

FOOTNOTES:  
**[1]** We used meters because we like the metric system. 


	4. The Stolen Mana

**_Akishi no Mikage _**

_Episode 4_

With a blank expression on his face, Touya blinked at the cheery man with the face-paint. Then, the man remembered what he had been sent to do. Dropping the cord he held in his hand, Touya reached into his back pocket retrieving a pair of miniature plastic handcuffs and swung them in front of his face provocatively.

"You can either come in peace," he said ominously, "Or, you can feel the wrath of Kagami's fan."

Mikage narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "That's not a very nice way to introduce yourself," the tribesman accused. He paused for a minute in deep thought as the plastic handcuffs swung mockingly from side-to-side infront of his face. Then out of the blue, he raised an arm and swept his massive tribesman hand towards the other, producing a Touya-shaped hole in the ground beneath the challenger's feet.

As soon as the last few strands of red hair disappeared below the said hole, Mikage created another one for himself and joined Touya in the basement.

_x x x_

"Where... IS HE!" Shouta seethed as he tried to crawl down his high-chair.

The older sister looked up from setting the dishes on the table and replied to the empty chair, "Yeah, I've been trying to summon him to come to dinner for ten minutes now."

The little boy tribesman got up from his hands and knees, peering over the table's edge on his tiptoes. "Go find him," he threatened. "Or else that wig isn't coming off."

Chidori sighed in exasperation and picked up her fork.

"May the mullet be with you."

_x x x_

"What is this place?" Touya said to himself in a disturbed tone. His golden-green eyes scanned the darkened surroundings of the large room he had fallen in. Heaps of books lay at his feet. The Wind in the Willows. Little House on the Prarie. The Babysitter's Club. Some were tattered and some were worn, and all looked like they had been read many, many times.

Before Touya could ridicule the mysterious, unknown owner of these novels. A war-painted face appeared in front of him. "Where's my MANA!" the warrior demanded. "Without the mana, I cannot go to the tribes meeting. So, where's my mana?"

Touya stayed silent for a long time. Finally, Mikage crossed his arms and became curious in tone, "Well, where is it?"

"Honestly, I don't know," the other answered truthfully. When his comment didn't seem to have an effect on the tribesman, Touya tried another approach. In a fit of retaliation Touya mirrored the crossed arms and curious look, "Do I look like I know?"

Mikage scrutinized the stance and expression, then decided that Touya really didn't know. "Well, I have no use for you no more. Sheesh," the tribesman chided, summoning his favored weapon and hiding it behind his back. He grasped the handle tightly and waited for a second to let the element of suspense settle in, then drew it out in plain view as an extremely shocked gasp escaped from the red-head.

Before the tribesman could play Whack-A-Mole with his target, a figure masked with unevenly cut white hair dropped down in front of Mikage from the hole the tribesman had created for himself.

"Get away from me," Mikage said to the intruder. "I have no business with Nakago**(1)**." The angered warrior continued snarling, "If you get in my way, I will have two moles to whack." Then, the deep voice lowered to a stomach rumble, "Three, if you count the woman who stole my MANA... and _SHAMED_ me."

In the blink of an eye, a foot slammed into the tribesman's second-most favored weapon, sending the man into tears.

Mikage doubled over, cradling himself like a child. The long, wild strands of tribesman hair disappeared as the body transformed into that of a young teenager, whimpering like an injured puppy.

The blonde boy who had appeared in Mikage's place heard the barely audible honk of a certain Volkswagon Beetle outside the house and opened his eyes just in time to see Touya pitter-patter away.

"Touya..." Aki whispered, with a certain regretful longing in his voice. A trickle of blood ran down his foot from a small injury that occurred during the whole ordeal.

The one who had come to Touya's rescue scratched her head as if to shake lice from it. "Well, umm... shall we go?" Chidori suggested, hoping that Aki did not realize that it had been she who had canned him and his alter-ego.

_x x x_

"You succeeding in protecting Aki this time," Shouta said approvingly to his older sister. The two were sitting on the front steps of the traditional Japanese house that evening, listening to the next-door neighbor's dog bark at the mullet on the other side of the fence.

Chidori nodded as the dog growled and reared up against the fence, sending the perched birds off in a frenzy.

"He'll be safe here, but I wonder what he meant by saying that a woman shamed him," Shouta pondered, nodding his little head as his eyes watched an ant crawl up his leg.

"He seemed kinda pissed off," Chidori added thoughtfully, just as Aki emerged through the sliding door. The blonde-haired boy was leaning on a crutch. A bandaged left foot shot up and nailed Chidori in the back, sending the mullet in a head-banging motion.

Shouta stared wide-eyed at the display of violence from the normally pleasant boy. Picking the ant off of himself, the toddler stood up and excused himself. "Um, I'll go finish my bottle of milk now."

The teenager that was left on the front steps with Chidori lowered his eyes and started in a distant voice, "Did something weird happen again?"

The girl eyed the bulldog as it burst through the fence, then slowly got up. "Let's go inside and discuss this," she said calmly, escorting Aki into the house.

_x x x_

They had entered the sparsely furnished room that had been assigned to Aki. The two then settled down on Aki's futon in silence, each thinking their own thoughts. The boy was confused and upset about the gap in his memory. Voicing his troubles, he said, "The only thing I remember doing was singing along to the Backstreet Boys... and then I found myself down in the basement with a surging pain in my crotch." Aki heaved a deep sigh, shaking his head slowly. Chidori, who sat across from him, shifted nervously in her seat as the other continued contemplating. "Did I really say things about being shamed by a woman? Did I really try to hurt Touya?"

When the girl didn't say anything to comfort him, Aki started mutely sobbing into his hands, blaming himself for not resisting the tribesman inside him. Nothing made sense to the boy. He just didn't know what brought on the strong urge to play Whack-A-Mole. Even though Aki was himself, he couldn't remember a single thing he said or did during the transformation.

Chidori sighed and got up. Turning around she saw a red-haired man staring at them through the window. Surprised, the girl stormed over and yanked the curtains shut.

"I can't take this anymore!" the ignored boy howled and ran out of his room in a fit of tears.

The girl stood facing the closed curtains in disbelief. Aki was so delicate. He shouldn't have had to go through what he did... especially not the urges to play Whack-A -Mole! She suddenly decided to direct her anger to a more reasonable victim.

Tearing the curtains open, Chidori banged on the window in front of Touya who hadn't moved from his spot. She fumbled with the latch hastily and pulled open the windows in anger. "Hey! Don't just sneak off like that!" she blared, ignoring his confused gaze. "Don't you care how Aki feels! You're just in the way!" The girl spewed viciously at the man who adjusted his sunglasses to shield himself from the spit that flew at his face. "From now on, stay away from him!" Chidori demanded, "I swear on my mullet that I'll protect him!"

"So protect him," Touya shrugged indifferently. There was not a hint of emotion in his voice. "Protect him with your mullet."

_x x x_

Aya had finished getting ready in her overly large bedroom chamber that night. The teenage girl was just lacing up her stilettos when she heard her grandfather announce over the intercom: "Before Aya notices, y'all should terminate the tribesman at once."

"Hmmm?" Aya perked up at the sound of her grandfather's voice and took a moment to question his motives. "Hmmm..." Another few minutes flew by as she continued to ponder his intentions. At last, she shrugged and came to a conclusion that she should find Aki to ask him what it meant. With haste and unsteady, wobbling ankles, she made her way out of the bedroom and towards the exit.

Down the hall covered with animal print rugs, she saw a suspicious looking brown door. Feeling a need to pry into the lives of others, she leaned her ear against the solid cardboard surface. A recognizable voice drifted through the material: "As long as Aki is alive, I'll never be considered the king of baseball in the Mikage family. But more importantly, he'll drain our income... eventually." The girl on the other side of the cardboard had decided she had heard enough gossip and quickly hurried out of the estate to tell her brother that someone was conspiring behind his back.

_x x x_

Touya had just started driving away from the Kuruma residence when he spotted a girl trying to run in stilettos. The man recognized the figure of the girl whom he was supposedly a 'maid' for. To fulfill his position, he quickly pulled up beside the limping young woman and opened the door, greeting her with his usual phrase, "Where to?"

_x x x_

Meanwhile, Chidori, who had moved into the room beside Aki, was snoring very loudly. The teenage boy couldn't catch a wink that night and decided to swipe a book from her room. The task had been completed easily enough, but as he settled into his covers, he shook his head a little being reminded of his father.

The title of the book read "Tribesman Legend Collection." The boy turned to the first page and began reading.

Strange Voice in Aki's head:

One day a young woman was passing by a mud hole when she saw a few beautiful tribesman (fairies) wading in the dirt.

On the pine tree right beside, she saw a sign that read: REWARD FOR FINDING MANA. The young woman realized that the mana mentioned in the ad was the one she had stolen many moons ago.

The tribesman that had his mana (makeup) stolen, could not go to the tribe meeting. When the tribesman saw the suspicious young woman he asked, "Have you seen my makeup? If you have it, would you please return it to me? Thanks."

But the young woman pretended that she didn't know and took the hand of the weeping tribesman to be her husband.

They were married for a while and had a few children. But one day, the tribesman overheard his children singing and making fun of him over the fact that his wife had hid his makeup... again.

The tribesman was disappointed that he had been outsmarted once again and decided to wreak havoc among-

The voice died in Aki's head as the boy fell asleep.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

FOOTNOTES:  
**(1)** Yes, even Mikage thinks that Chidori resembles Nakago with the tribesman protecting wig on.


End file.
